AZUSA, Calif. -- It may be Azusa Pacific's first trip to the NCAA Elite Eight, but the Cougars are no strangers to March Madness.
In its first year of Division II postseason eligibility, Azusa Pacific's championship tradition took a significant opening step as an NCAA program as the Cougars added their first-ever Division II West Region title with a convincing 91-79 victory over rival California Baptist in Monday night's West Regional championship game.
The victory sends Azusa Pacific on to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind., where the Cougars (27-5) will face the Atlantic Region champion on Wednesday, March 25, in the quarterfinal round of the Division II championship bracket.
Senior guard Troy Leaf, the West Region Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, finished with 23 points to lead Azusa Pacific, and fellow All-Tournament representative Kevin Stafford drilled all four of his three-point attempts to finish with 17 points in the game. A Stafford three capped a 9-0 run to start the half, turning a two-point halftime edge (35-33) into an 11-point edge margin less than three minutes into the second half.
After Azusa Pacific held Gelaun Wheelwright to five points in the first half, he nearly brought California Baptist back single-handedly, scoring 26 of his game-high 35 points in the final 11 minutes of action. By the time he got rolling midway through the second half, it was far too late as he only heated up after the Cougars had extended the lead beyond 20 points.
For all of Wheelwright's heroics, Azusa Pacific kept finding ways to answer at every turn. All but one Lancer score in the final 11 minutes was answered with points on the board for the Cougars, who kept CBU trailing by at least 10 points the entire final 15 minutes of the contest. After a Wheelwright jumper pulled the Lancers within seven at 46-39, with 15:45 to play, freshman forward Petar Kutlesic drained a three-pointer which sparked a 16-2 run over a four-minute stretch that featured seven different scorers for Azusa Pacific.
That pushed the lead to 21 points, 62-41, with 11:48 to play, and the Cougars took their largest lead at 23 points, 74-51, with 6:27 left. The only instance when California Baptist scored unanswered points was when Wheelwright converted a three-point play with 5:37 remaining and hit a single free throw with 5:00 left. Every other score, of which there were plenty for Wheelwright down the stretch, was answered by Azusa Pacific, which picked up an extra point on a technical foul free throw after California Baptist called a timeout it didn't have after slashing the lead to 13, 82-69, with just under three minutes to play.
The mistake was costly both on the scoreboard and in the momentum it robbed of the Lancers, whose three-point play on the next possession was answered by two more Stafford free throws and a breakaway dunk from senior forward Andy Jones that extended the lead back to 15, 87-72, with just a minute and a half left in the game.
Azusa Pacific knocked down six first-half three-pointers and drained another four-of-six from long range after halftime to finish the game shooting 53 percent (10-for-19) beyond the three-point line. In addition to Leaf, who hit two treys, and Stafford's four-for-four effort, Kutlesic also drilled his only two three-point attempts to finish up with 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds. His effort, along with eight points from junior LyDell Cardwell and seven from sophomore Will Ward helped led the Cougars to a 32-15 edge in bench scoring, and Azusa Pacific parlayed 14 CBU turnovers into a 21-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
Leaf was held under 30 points for the first time in NCAA Tournament play, but the extra defensive attention California Baptist paid him led to a game-high five assists for the Pacific West Conference and Daktronics West Region Player of the Year.
The victory wraps up a perfect 15-0 home record for Azusa Pacific, which tied two previous seasons (1993-94 and 1996-97) as the best unbeaten home records in program history.
VIDEO: Azusa Pacific Postgame Press Conference (Championship)
